Sally and the Surge; SYMS and a Hiss(Do NOT Miss the Hiss)

Sally HH: ‘I made it into your blog. How cool is that. Maybe even better than winning the daily news contest (the little wooden and brass plaque they sent reads: I WON THE DAILY NEWS CONTEST AND I AM SO HOT!) I won for the contest ‘how do you cure a cold’ and I used my great-uncle’s remedy: Put hat on bedpost. Get into bed. Drink gin until you see two hats.’

☞ The plaque I would send if I weren’t so cheap: ‘I have the best readers in the world. How cool is THAT?’

John McCain, aided and abetted by his loving protectors in the media, is running a victory lap on Iraq. To hear them tell it, the surge has “worked” — indeed, it has been a huge success — and this, like a last second Hail Mary pass, has vindicated the entire disastrous Iraq misadventure.

Despite the revisionist re-writes, we didn’t go to war because we were committed to demonstrating that America could unleash violence in Iraq and then, five years later, curb it through the use of reinforcements. We went to war because we were told Iraq posed a grave and imminent threat to our national security and, secondarily, as a means of fomenting democracy throughout the Middle East.

Of course, the “imminent threat” turned out to be non-existent, and our presence in Iraq has strengthened the hand of every bad actor in the region: al Qaeda is safe and adding recruits, Hamas has come to power in Palestine, Hezbollah has reasserted itself in Lebanon, and Iran has become the strongest player in Iraq. Meanwhile, the reduction in casualties in Iraq is starting to be offset by increased casualties in Afghanistan — once again showing the fatal ignorance of stealing from Peter to stop-loss Paul and keep him in Iraq.

So, tell me again: how is the surge working?

SYMS

For those who follow it, here’s a good recap leading up to tomorrow’s annual meeting. Not that anything dramatic is expected to happen – with 57% of the stock, Syms and his daughter can do almost anything they want – but the situation is still interesting.

HISS

A 61-year-old librarian was ticketed (her court date is July 23rd), escorted off a public plaza outside a McCain town hall meeting, and threatened with arrest for carrying a sign that read ‘McCain=Bush.’ (Hey, it’s a free country – you ought to be able to be arrested for anything, so long as it’s not hurting other people, right?)

You really have to watch the two-minute video. I love what she asks at the end: ‘Why is [the sign] offensive?Why would Republicans who voted for Bush find it offensive?’

I suppose it would be gilding the lily to note that when the grotesquely unchristian Reverend Phelps holds up signs reading ‘God Hates Fags’ outside funeral services, he is not ticketed, forced to leave, or threatened with arrest. (Nor, in America, should he be.)